Heart Healthy Tips

Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD)

Heart failure means your heart is too damaged or weak to circulate enough blood to your body. Your doctor may tell you your heart needs the help of a left ventricular assist device (LVAD). An LVAD helps your left ventricle—the large, muscular chamber of the heart—pump blood to the aorta, the main artery that carries oxygen-rich blood from your heart to your body.

Advanced, Certified Therapy

UNC Medical Center is one of the major academic medical centers in the United States at the forefront of advancing LVAD technology. We’ve been a Joint-Commission-certified LVAD Destination Therapy Center since 2010.

UNC Medical Center also holds the distinction of being a Medicare/Medicaid approved Destination Therapy Center.

Who Needs an LVAD?

You may need an LVAD for your heart failure because:

You are waiting for a heart transplant and LVAD is a temporary treatment to keep your heart functioning until you get a new donor heart

You are not a candidate for heart transplantation and need an LVAD to provide destination therapy or long-term heart failure treatment, in this case your doctor may permanently implant an LVAD

How Does an LVAD Work?

An LVAD doesn’t replace your heart; it aids your heart by pulling blood from the left ventricle into a pump and sending it to the aorta. Sometimes referred to as a heart pump, the LVAD helps decrease the effort of your left ventricle.

LVAD Implantation

Your doctor will surgically place an LVAD pump in your chest attached to your heart. A cable inserted through your skin connects to the pump’s battery and control unit outside your body.

UNC Medical Center uses these VAD devices:

Thoratec intracorporeal device – Support for either LVAD or BiVAD

HeartMate II – Serves as a bridge to transplant or as an LVAD destination therapy

Clinical Trial

Contact Us

Call the Heart & Vascular Center referral line at 866-862-4327 to find specialists, make an appointment or learn more about preventing heart disease.

Open Access is a new physician referral service, created by the UNC Center for Heart & Vascular Care, which coordinates all admissions and transfers through a single phone call and guarantees immediate acceptance for patients. Please contact us to learn more or call 866-862-4327.